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Memoir of a Race Traitor
Back in print after more than a decade, this is a singular chronicle of life at the forefront of antiracist activism, with a new introduction and afterword by the author.
In 1994, Mab Segrest first explained how she “had become a woman haunted by the dead.” Against a backdrop of nine generations of her family’s history, Segrest explored her experiences in the 1980s as a white lesbian organizing against a virulent far-right movement in North Carolina.
Memoir of a Race Traitor became a classic text of white antiracist practice. bell hooks called it a “courageous and daring [example of] the reality that political solidarity, forged in struggle, can exist across differences.” Adrienne Rich wrote that it was “a unique document and thoroughly fascinating.”
Juxtaposing childhood memories with contemporary events, Segrest described her journey into the heart of her culture, finally veering from its trajectory of violence toward hope and renewal. Now, amid our current national crisis driven by an increasingly apocalyptic white supremacist movement, Segrest returns with an updated edition of her classic book. With a new introduction and afterword that explore what has transpired with the far right since its publication, the book brings us into the age of Trump—and to what can and must be done.
Called “a true delight” and a “must-read” (Minnesota Review), Memoir of a Race Traitor is an inspiring and politically potent book.
In 1994, Mab Segrest first explained how she “had become a woman haunted by the dead.” Against a backdrop of nine generations of her family’s history, Segrest explored her experiences in the 1980s as a white lesbian organizing against a virulent far-right movement in North Carolina.
Memoir of a Race Traitor became a classic text of white antiracist practice. bell hooks called it a “courageous and daring [example of] the reality that political solidarity, forged in struggle, can exist across differences.” Adrienne Rich wrote that it was “a unique document and thoroughly fascinating.”
Juxtaposing childhood memories with contemporary events, Segrest described her journey into the heart of her culture, finally veering from its trajectory of violence toward hope and renewal. Now, amid our current national crisis driven by an increasingly apocalyptic white supremacist movement, Segrest returns with an updated edition of her classic book. With a new introduction and afterword that explore what has transpired with the far right since its publication, the book brings us into the age of Trump—and to what can and must be done.
Called “a true delight” and a “must-read” (Minnesota Review), Memoir of a Race Traitor is an inspiring and politically potent book.
274 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1994
68 people are currently reading
3499 people want to read
About the author
Mab Segrest
12 books70 followersMabelle ("Mab) Massey Segrest is an American feminist, lesbian, writer, and activist.
Born in Alabama, Segrest received her Ph.D. in Modern British Literature from Duke University in 1979 and was appointed the Fuller-Matthai Professor of Gender & Women's Studies at Connecticut College in 2004.
Segrest is often recognized for her efforts combatting sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, and other forms of oppression. She is credited by some as being one of the main forces that drove the Ku Klux Klan from North Carolina in the late 1980s.
Born in Alabama, Segrest received her Ph.D. in Modern British Literature from Duke University in 1979 and was appointed the Fuller-Matthai Professor of Gender & Women's Studies at Connecticut College in 2004.
Segrest is often recognized for her efforts combatting sexism, racism, homophobia, classism, and other forms of oppression. She is credited by some as being one of the main forces that drove the Ku Klux Klan from North Carolina in the late 1980s.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
March 7, 2016
I'm having a time in my life right now. I'll spare the details for this forum, but it has lead to my decision to read exclusively lesbian memoirs. I'm needing a bit of reflection in my life.
This book seemed like an obvious choice. I have a lot of surface commonalities with the author, Mab Segrest: we're both gay white female southern anti racists. We also moved from relatively more conservative and stifling places in the South to North Carolina where we found both gay and radical community. But all that is kind of whatever when I think about how I relate to her internal struggles. In her reflections I recognize the same sort of impulse to stand on the right side of history; the personal need to fight the most heinous aspects of the society that produced you and supposes to defend and privilege you because of your racialization as a white person.
And in both of us I see people who are primarily motivated by principles and desires to be accountable that are taken so far that we sometimes unconsciously deny our own human needs and capacities in that process.
I had a chuckle when Segrest, in the final chapter, describes her struggle to integrate the wisdom of the serenity prayer, "dear god, give me the courage to change the things I cannot change. -i could never get that goddamned prayer right." It just so happens, a few months ago I made a little card for myself where I wrote out the serenity prayer. I taped it to the dresser and look at it in bewilderment while I lay in my bed most mornings.
But really I'm foregrounding aspects of the book that speak to me, but the pages were much more full with this crazy documentarian look at this perfect (read: fucking scary) storm of white supremacist and homophobic terror and murders happening simultaneously in various corners of North Carolina in the 1980s. Her feminist lesbian collective fell apart around the time that the Greensboro massacre happened in '79. After the klansmen and neo nazi's literally got away with murder in Greensboro, North Carolina became the home of the fastest growing white supremacist movement in america. Segrest wrote: “ I left Alabama to get away from violent repression. It had followed me. But I was an adult, not an adolescent. I had unfinished business.” And from there unfurls chapter after chapter of details of campaigns against a bunch of terrifying klan and neo nazi organizing and violence told from the perspective of working within a small nonprofit called North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence.
I have to say though, the memoir is rather disjointed, restrained. it's not until the epilogue that Mab Segrest explains the difficulty of writing a memoir that includes the lives of so many other people. It's written only a handful of years after most of the events she depicts. Many of these wingnut racists did not go down for their crimes so I'm sure there remained residual fear and apprehension about letting the whole story hang out. It's also clear she is very concerned with remaining accountable to her loved ones and comrades. This is commendable but also makes for a memoir that gives the reader only snidbits of vulnerability. She spends most of the book retelling traumatizing stories in a factual way that makes you feel like you could be reading a newspaper. Only it's interspersed with paragraphs that seems to drop out of nowhere like a flashback (“trigger”?) where she talks about the immense fear she had driving back roads by herself or checking her car for bombs, or reflecting the pain and lessons she learned from her intense fights with her friend and coworker, Chris (who is Black). And all this goes down against this backdrop of her struggle to grapple with her own relationship with her family, who are white conservative racists in Alabama.
Mab Segrest reckons with her family history in a way I can't quite do. She's from a southern family that has literally documented it's history starting in 1613 in the Jamestown settlement in modern-day Virginia. it's freakishly text book the way the men of her family fit hand in glove with the sickening history of this country. She knows as a matter of fact that her ancestors actively fought to perpetuate institutional white supremacy, and personally benefited over generations through acquiring stolen land, getting higher wages, reserving resources and institutions for their blood relations, and a claiming sense of belonging and entitelment that came at the expense of black and indigenous people. I, however don't know shit about my ancestors other than I have an irish name and I'm hella pale. So I rely on US history more generally to infer similar conclusions about my own family and what my presence in the US represents.
Which brings us to the secret gem of this book. It's not just a memoir! Tucked at the end is an essay called “On Being White and Other Lies [a title inspired by a James Baldwin essay by the same name]- A History of Racism in the United States.”
My understanding of how this essay came to be was she was working on this feminist anthology -The Third Wave: Feminist Essays on Racism- with several other (mostly not white) women. They kept blowing Segrests' mind with political and historical insights and she would be like, we should put that in the book! And they would reply, This is too basic. We want to go deeper. But they gave her a bunch of books to read, such as Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America and Zinn's People's History of the US. Out of those readings she wrote this 43-page succinct and accessible history of the US that traces how race and racism was constructed here and laid the foundation for our supposed democracy (for white people) and immense capitalist accumulation (for white people). And she does this really interesting thing where she uses her family tree to situate her own ancestors within history and illustrate the role of white people in this nation's history. (who at certain times might be called “christians”, “english”, “settlers” “colonialists” but really only became “white” through a process where they actively -and passively!- perpetuated and justified black and indigenous slavery and genocide. ) This essay is worth reading as an introduction to folks trying to understand race and racism in america or as a refresher to anyone who's already studied this stuff.
One last note: Throughout the pages of this memoir, you don't get the sense that she's really a revolutionary. It's not until the intro to the History of Racism in the US essay that it seems like she put together all the interwoven ways racism has embedded itself into the very fabric of our society and culture from the get-go of the “New World.” Most notably is the lack of critical reflection about the role of prisons and policing. The way capitalist interests intersect with white supremacy also does not come through in her analysis within the memoir either. The history essay really makes up for this though. And I think we have her feminist co-editors to thank for that.
This book seemed like an obvious choice. I have a lot of surface commonalities with the author, Mab Segrest: we're both gay white female southern anti racists. We also moved from relatively more conservative and stifling places in the South to North Carolina where we found both gay and radical community. But all that is kind of whatever when I think about how I relate to her internal struggles. In her reflections I recognize the same sort of impulse to stand on the right side of history; the personal need to fight the most heinous aspects of the society that produced you and supposes to defend and privilege you because of your racialization as a white person.
And in both of us I see people who are primarily motivated by principles and desires to be accountable that are taken so far that we sometimes unconsciously deny our own human needs and capacities in that process.
I had a chuckle when Segrest, in the final chapter, describes her struggle to integrate the wisdom of the serenity prayer, "dear god, give me the courage to change the things I cannot change. -i could never get that goddamned prayer right." It just so happens, a few months ago I made a little card for myself where I wrote out the serenity prayer. I taped it to the dresser and look at it in bewilderment while I lay in my bed most mornings.
But really I'm foregrounding aspects of the book that speak to me, but the pages were much more full with this crazy documentarian look at this perfect (read: fucking scary) storm of white supremacist and homophobic terror and murders happening simultaneously in various corners of North Carolina in the 1980s. Her feminist lesbian collective fell apart around the time that the Greensboro massacre happened in '79. After the klansmen and neo nazi's literally got away with murder in Greensboro, North Carolina became the home of the fastest growing white supremacist movement in america. Segrest wrote: “ I left Alabama to get away from violent repression. It had followed me. But I was an adult, not an adolescent. I had unfinished business.” And from there unfurls chapter after chapter of details of campaigns against a bunch of terrifying klan and neo nazi organizing and violence told from the perspective of working within a small nonprofit called North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence.
I have to say though, the memoir is rather disjointed, restrained. it's not until the epilogue that Mab Segrest explains the difficulty of writing a memoir that includes the lives of so many other people. It's written only a handful of years after most of the events she depicts. Many of these wingnut racists did not go down for their crimes so I'm sure there remained residual fear and apprehension about letting the whole story hang out. It's also clear she is very concerned with remaining accountable to her loved ones and comrades. This is commendable but also makes for a memoir that gives the reader only snidbits of vulnerability. She spends most of the book retelling traumatizing stories in a factual way that makes you feel like you could be reading a newspaper. Only it's interspersed with paragraphs that seems to drop out of nowhere like a flashback (“trigger”?) where she talks about the immense fear she had driving back roads by herself or checking her car for bombs, or reflecting the pain and lessons she learned from her intense fights with her friend and coworker, Chris (who is Black). And all this goes down against this backdrop of her struggle to grapple with her own relationship with her family, who are white conservative racists in Alabama.
Mab Segrest reckons with her family history in a way I can't quite do. She's from a southern family that has literally documented it's history starting in 1613 in the Jamestown settlement in modern-day Virginia. it's freakishly text book the way the men of her family fit hand in glove with the sickening history of this country. She knows as a matter of fact that her ancestors actively fought to perpetuate institutional white supremacy, and personally benefited over generations through acquiring stolen land, getting higher wages, reserving resources and institutions for their blood relations, and a claiming sense of belonging and entitelment that came at the expense of black and indigenous people. I, however don't know shit about my ancestors other than I have an irish name and I'm hella pale. So I rely on US history more generally to infer similar conclusions about my own family and what my presence in the US represents.
Which brings us to the secret gem of this book. It's not just a memoir! Tucked at the end is an essay called “On Being White and Other Lies [a title inspired by a James Baldwin essay by the same name]- A History of Racism in the United States.”
My understanding of how this essay came to be was she was working on this feminist anthology -The Third Wave: Feminist Essays on Racism- with several other (mostly not white) women. They kept blowing Segrests' mind with political and historical insights and she would be like, we should put that in the book! And they would reply, This is too basic. We want to go deeper. But they gave her a bunch of books to read, such as Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America and Zinn's People's History of the US. Out of those readings she wrote this 43-page succinct and accessible history of the US that traces how race and racism was constructed here and laid the foundation for our supposed democracy (for white people) and immense capitalist accumulation (for white people). And she does this really interesting thing where she uses her family tree to situate her own ancestors within history and illustrate the role of white people in this nation's history. (who at certain times might be called “christians”, “english”, “settlers” “colonialists” but really only became “white” through a process where they actively -and passively!- perpetuated and justified black and indigenous slavery and genocide. ) This essay is worth reading as an introduction to folks trying to understand race and racism in america or as a refresher to anyone who's already studied this stuff.
One last note: Throughout the pages of this memoir, you don't get the sense that she's really a revolutionary. It's not until the intro to the History of Racism in the US essay that it seems like she put together all the interwoven ways racism has embedded itself into the very fabric of our society and culture from the get-go of the “New World.” Most notably is the lack of critical reflection about the role of prisons and policing. The way capitalist interests intersect with white supremacy also does not come through in her analysis within the memoir either. The history essay really makes up for this though. And I think we have her feminist co-editors to thank for that.
May 7, 2016
The first, largest section of this book is the memoir part of the book, what the book takes its title from. It is largely a memoir of Segrest's time doing anti-racist organizing in North Carolina, set against the backdrop of her white family's long history of perpetuating white supremacy -- both her close, immediate family and her distant, long-dead relatives. She isn't too ashamed to write of the Black men her relatives killed, or the organizing her father did against desegregated schools in Alabama, or of any of their acts of racist violence, knowing rightly what little good her shame could do anyone. And she understands the value in exposing legacies of racism and racist violence in white families. And she isn't afraid to make herself vulnerable and doesn't hold herself above criticism, doesn't write herself in a soft, favorable light, doesn't wholly set herself in opposition to her roots. She knows that she is intricately tangled in them. She's constantly struggling to understand her family rather than demonizing them, while still maintaining a healthy balance of anger and shock and disgust at both their racism and the homophobia she experiences from them.
But, as I mentioned earlier, her family and its history is largely the backdrop that informs and enriches her writing of her organizing against racist violence in North Carolina. This section of the book really does so much -- it's partly a chilling history of racist violence in civil-rights era Alabama & 1980's North Carolina, partly a history of those racist judicial systems, partly a window into what organizing work looks like, partly a window into what it was like to organize as a lesbian in the 80's, partly a window into how Segrest, as a lesbian, was affected by AIDS, partly a reflection on what it means to be white and doing anti-racist work (to be a "race-traitor"), partly a reflection on memoir itself -- it does so much, and so much more than what I've named, even. And it does it in a messy, emotional, beautiful way.
The second section of the book is titled "On Being White and Other Lies: A History of Racism in the United States." The history begins with English settlement, and, as the first section of the book, is informed by Segrest's family history, which can be traced in North America to the near-beginning of English settlement. It very clearly and concisely lays out a history of racism and capitalism in the U.S (and globally, to an extent, as the U.S. is and is not an island). I found it useful in the (ongoing/never-ending) work of organizing and plotting history in my head. I plan on reading it about 5 more times to help some of the information densely contained in it solidify.
The third section, "A Bridge, Not a Wedge," was sort of an addendum to the second. It was originally delivered as a keynote for a National Gay and Lesbian Task Force conference in 1993, which helps explain why it was my least favorite section, as it was written with that audience in mind, one that Segrest assumed might be reluctant to accept its charge -- that queer organizing must too be anti-racist organizing, must work with anti-racist organizers, that white queers must understand race and racism. Still, I was a sucker for how poetically this section (and the book) ended.
This book gave me basically everything I wanted from a book, ever! And more things done well in one short book than I could have imagined?? I learned so much?? I was so moved?? It gave me so much perspective?? Segrest, of course, has minor flounders at times, but still, I didn't really think that a white person could write so well about race and I'm glad to be wrong.
But, as I mentioned earlier, her family and its history is largely the backdrop that informs and enriches her writing of her organizing against racist violence in North Carolina. This section of the book really does so much -- it's partly a chilling history of racist violence in civil-rights era Alabama & 1980's North Carolina, partly a history of those racist judicial systems, partly a window into what organizing work looks like, partly a window into what it was like to organize as a lesbian in the 80's, partly a window into how Segrest, as a lesbian, was affected by AIDS, partly a reflection on what it means to be white and doing anti-racist work (to be a "race-traitor"), partly a reflection on memoir itself -- it does so much, and so much more than what I've named, even. And it does it in a messy, emotional, beautiful way.
The second section of the book is titled "On Being White and Other Lies: A History of Racism in the United States." The history begins with English settlement, and, as the first section of the book, is informed by Segrest's family history, which can be traced in North America to the near-beginning of English settlement. It very clearly and concisely lays out a history of racism and capitalism in the U.S (and globally, to an extent, as the U.S. is and is not an island). I found it useful in the (ongoing/never-ending) work of organizing and plotting history in my head. I plan on reading it about 5 more times to help some of the information densely contained in it solidify.
The third section, "A Bridge, Not a Wedge," was sort of an addendum to the second. It was originally delivered as a keynote for a National Gay and Lesbian Task Force conference in 1993, which helps explain why it was my least favorite section, as it was written with that audience in mind, one that Segrest assumed might be reluctant to accept its charge -- that queer organizing must too be anti-racist organizing, must work with anti-racist organizers, that white queers must understand race and racism. Still, I was a sucker for how poetically this section (and the book) ended.
This book gave me basically everything I wanted from a book, ever! And more things done well in one short book than I could have imagined?? I learned so much?? I was so moved?? It gave me so much perspective?? Segrest, of course, has minor flounders at times, but still, I didn't really think that a white person could write so well about race and I'm glad to be wrong.
March 15, 2022
Overall this was very good! I really enjoyed the memoir section, but my favourite part is probably the history bit. It was very powerful to read about cities that I live and grew up in, especially as a lot of the civil rights history things I’ve read focus very much on the northeast or west coast. Rarely are there specific discussions of more contemporary race-related history regarding the South, in this case the Triangle, and I really enjoy Segrest’s way of discussing the south as a place of oppression but also one of resistance.
I think the main areas of this book I am not entirely sold on are the lack of integration of trans struggles, which are brushed over multiple times despite definitely being a prevalent movement during the time it was written. However, I definitely understand that not everybody was involved in or aware of trans movements, especially in the south, and I think Segrest likely did not know the extent that trans movements overlapped with other movements, especially with race and class. My other note is that the section about queer Socialism very clearly struggles with a fear of the word communism, which is not surprising, but definitely reflects the impact of the red scare on a lot of civil rights activism.
In literary terms, this was not the /best/ memoir I have ever read, but I still think it is incredibly valuable. For my local folks, I definitely recommend this book, and I would pretty strongly recommend it to everybody regardless. However, if you are reading literature on race, fiction or non-fiction or memoir or otherwise, still be sure to centre Black writers and other people of colour, because while folks like Segrest who have been involved in civil rights for a long time do has valuable things to say, there is nothing Segrest said that I have not learned from my previous readings of Black authors and authors of colour. That is not a negative on Segrest’s part, it’s just important to thoughtfully consume media, and it is definitely related to the way that white people are more open to learning from other white people than they are from POC (which Segrest also talked about!) Memoirs of a Race Traitor is a good read, provided you prioritize POC’s voices and it is not the only antiracist reading you’re doing.
I think the main areas of this book I am not entirely sold on are the lack of integration of trans struggles, which are brushed over multiple times despite definitely being a prevalent movement during the time it was written. However, I definitely understand that not everybody was involved in or aware of trans movements, especially in the south, and I think Segrest likely did not know the extent that trans movements overlapped with other movements, especially with race and class. My other note is that the section about queer Socialism very clearly struggles with a fear of the word communism, which is not surprising, but definitely reflects the impact of the red scare on a lot of civil rights activism.
In literary terms, this was not the /best/ memoir I have ever read, but I still think it is incredibly valuable. For my local folks, I definitely recommend this book, and I would pretty strongly recommend it to everybody regardless. However, if you are reading literature on race, fiction or non-fiction or memoir or otherwise, still be sure to centre Black writers and other people of colour, because while folks like Segrest who have been involved in civil rights for a long time do has valuable things to say, there is nothing Segrest said that I have not learned from my previous readings of Black authors and authors of colour. That is not a negative on Segrest’s part, it’s just important to thoughtfully consume media, and it is definitely related to the way that white people are more open to learning from other white people than they are from POC (which Segrest also talked about!) Memoirs of a Race Traitor is a good read, provided you prioritize POC’s voices and it is not the only antiracist reading you’re doing.
June 25, 2020
This in-depth memoir details a life well-spent in the late half of the 20th century. Mab Segrest, now in her 70s, was an anti-racist and gay rights campaigner in some of the most difficult regions of the American South. You will gasp at some of the virulent hate and violence she went up against. Some victims of it survived. Some did not.
I did have a chuckle at her activist heart responding to the Serenity Prayer..."What do you mean 'things I cannot change?' Why can't I? What if everyone thought that way?"
The final section of the book details the long history of humanity's irrational hatred toward each other. There's also an addendum of the author's thoughts on Trump and the election of 2016.
I did have a chuckle at her activist heart responding to the Serenity Prayer..."What do you mean 'things I cannot change?' Why can't I? What if everyone thought that way?"
The final section of the book details the long history of humanity's irrational hatred toward each other. There's also an addendum of the author's thoughts on Trump and the election of 2016.
September 18, 2019
Technically, I didn't finish this. I read the book to the end of the story and afterwards, there's a couple of long essays she's written about the history of racism in America. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't continue. The book overall was good and interesting but where I had expected more of a personal tale focussed on the relationship with her family, I found it was instead densely packed with names, dates, events and organisations, making it all a bit of a jumble in my head at times and a rather exhausting read.
Read
April 26, 2020 "how we treat one another matters more than any particular 'win' because our goal is a transformed culture, which also requires transformed human relationships."
instructive mix of history and reflection of whiteness, race, and what anti-racist, anti-capitalist action and organizing looks like, from a writer who worked to follow baldwin's calling to unlearn what it means to "think of [yourself] as white."
the most impactful parts of the text for me were when segrest reflected on the challenges of running an anti-racist, multiracial organization, particularly the vulnerability with which she spoke to her working relationship with christina davis-mccoy. also all of parts two, her history of racism in the US reflecting on her white ancestor's own role in spawning and perpetuating racism, and part three, her address at a 1992 creating change conference. having attended creating change in 2020 her call to anti-racist, anti-capitalist action for white queers still rings urgent.
segret's takedown of the european/christian "mind-body" dichotomy was so effectively, devastatingly crafted and particularly resonant during corona.
instructive mix of history and reflection of whiteness, race, and what anti-racist, anti-capitalist action and organizing looks like, from a writer who worked to follow baldwin's calling to unlearn what it means to "think of [yourself] as white."
the most impactful parts of the text for me were when segrest reflected on the challenges of running an anti-racist, multiracial organization, particularly the vulnerability with which she spoke to her working relationship with christina davis-mccoy. also all of parts two, her history of racism in the US reflecting on her white ancestor's own role in spawning and perpetuating racism, and part three, her address at a 1992 creating change conference. having attended creating change in 2020 her call to anti-racist, anti-capitalist action for white queers still rings urgent.
segret's takedown of the european/christian "mind-body" dichotomy was so effectively, devastatingly crafted and particularly resonant during corona.
September 10, 2011
Of the three books of Mab Segrest's I've read, I think this is my favorite. Her stories of her own evolution are amazing. I think what really gets to me is that 1) how recently (last 20-30 years) some of these events occurred and 2)The more things change, the more they stay the same, unfortunately. Mab has done a great deal of work in the South, fighting against the KKK and fighting for racial justice. Many times I found myself shaking my head wondering how come we humans can't learn from our mistakes and learn to get along?? The abuses that occurred to people of color - in a time and place where we were supposed to be past Jim Crow and more evolved - and yet for many people they were treated as 2nd class citizens or less.
If you are interested in civil rights, read this book to get a unique perspective - especially one that isn't coming from a place of white male privileged. I don't think you will be disappointed.
If you are interested in civil rights, read this book to get a unique perspective - especially one that isn't coming from a place of white male privileged. I don't think you will be disappointed.
December 31, 2024
what a courageous woman. learning about people like the author and the ones she mentions in the book gives me hope that there are, and there always have been, people out there willing to push back against such (purposely) oppressive systems. not to be all “why didn’t they teach us this in school!!” because i know exactly why. US history is ugly and brutal and unjust.
i learned the plain truth about our country that isn’t widely talked about, and Segrest manages to do this without being hopeless. a very dense book, but given the topic, it’s expected. i would recommend to anyone.
i think the biggest thing i learned is that the oppression that exists in America is by design; it’s intentional. it was necessary to the country’s success. however, systems that are constructed can be deconstructed. with all that’s happening currently, it is an uphill battle. there are a lot of good people in this country, and it is the good people’s responsibility to take action instead of doing nothing.
i learned the plain truth about our country that isn’t widely talked about, and Segrest manages to do this without being hopeless. a very dense book, but given the topic, it’s expected. i would recommend to anyone.
i think the biggest thing i learned is that the oppression that exists in America is by design; it’s intentional. it was necessary to the country’s success. however, systems that are constructed can be deconstructed. with all that’s happening currently, it is an uphill battle. there are a lot of good people in this country, and it is the good people’s responsibility to take action instead of doing nothing.
February 7, 2021
This was beautifully written in flashes, and confusing for most of it. I was hoping she'd explore more of the intersection between her whiteness & her queerness and how that takes up space in the fight against racism (which is something I'm desperately trying to understand). Even though this wasn't that, it was an incredible telling of an often-hidden period of time. I was brought to tears multiple times by Joyce Sinclair's story and the very concept of her four year old daughter who would be so young today.
October 21, 2022
This is so incredibly dense, unfortunately, but is otherwise fantastic. I knew very little about anti-racism organizing from this period until this memoir, so I am very grateful for the background and Mab Segrest's role in it.
November 27, 2008
This was a great book in many ways. First I was amazed by the extent of recent horrible activity by the klan in NC. I knew about some of this, but was glad to be exposed to more of the facts through a practically first hand account.
This book did a good job of showing the link between racism and homophobia, and why standing up against both serves the same purpose in striving for a nobler future for humanity. It also convincingly links religious and economic condemnations by the right wing power structure with extremism, violence, and degradation of our society.
It was interesting to read the personal account of Segrest in reconciling her white biased family roots, her identity as a lesbian, and her struggle for survival while continuing to fight against hatred. Having friends in activist jobs, it was interesting to me to hear a veteran's personal perspective on dealing with the stress and reconciliation that is involved with this type of work.
The weaknesses of this book are in its organization and writing. The overall structure seems a bit off. For instance the interesting and concise essay on the history of the united states which traces Segrest's ancestors would have been a great introduction leading into her memories of growing up in her family, and early memories of racism. Segrest chooses a stream of consciousness structure that jumps back and forth between organizing and personal life rather than a chronological order.
Sometimes her writing becomes awkwardly poetic, and other times the syntax becomes hard to follow. The main points made by Segrest always show clear, but there are so many underlying ideas that are going in different directions at once that it can become overwhelming or hard to follow. I think much of this is due to the complex nature of the issues that Segrest strives to address. With some convolution, her writing is ultimately effective. I certainly could do no better as a writer (as you can see) especially faced with such a task, but I feel that a thoughtful, thorough, and even-handed editor could really improve the book overall.
That being said, it is most certainly a book that needed to be written, providing a first hand account of an important part of recent history, which our society would do well to learn from.
This book did a good job of showing the link between racism and homophobia, and why standing up against both serves the same purpose in striving for a nobler future for humanity. It also convincingly links religious and economic condemnations by the right wing power structure with extremism, violence, and degradation of our society.
It was interesting to read the personal account of Segrest in reconciling her white biased family roots, her identity as a lesbian, and her struggle for survival while continuing to fight against hatred. Having friends in activist jobs, it was interesting to me to hear a veteran's personal perspective on dealing with the stress and reconciliation that is involved with this type of work.
The weaknesses of this book are in its organization and writing. The overall structure seems a bit off. For instance the interesting and concise essay on the history of the united states which traces Segrest's ancestors would have been a great introduction leading into her memories of growing up in her family, and early memories of racism. Segrest chooses a stream of consciousness structure that jumps back and forth between organizing and personal life rather than a chronological order.
Sometimes her writing becomes awkwardly poetic, and other times the syntax becomes hard to follow. The main points made by Segrest always show clear, but there are so many underlying ideas that are going in different directions at once that it can become overwhelming or hard to follow. I think much of this is due to the complex nature of the issues that Segrest strives to address. With some convolution, her writing is ultimately effective. I certainly could do no better as a writer (as you can see) especially faced with such a task, but I feel that a thoughtful, thorough, and even-handed editor could really improve the book overall.
That being said, it is most certainly a book that needed to be written, providing a first hand account of an important part of recent history, which our society would do well to learn from.
July 11, 2017
this book is three parts: a memoir of mab segrest's time doing intense anti-klan organizing in the south; a brief tracing of the lineage of racism in the united states; and her 1993 creating change keynote speech called "a bridge, not a wedge," which outlines the future of fascism in unsurprisingly prescient ways, and proposes queer socialism as the politic of our future. i wish queer socialism had prevailed instead of homonationalist assimilationism and i hope to see more of us moving towards this as resistance to fascism rises.
we seem to have found ourselves in an era where it's kind of taboo for white people to write/speak about race in social justice/anti-oppressive circles, which i understand because 90% of the time white people do a fuckered job of it, but which i'm also finding leaves me and many white folks who are trying to figure out antiracism in a strange place. we can listen to BIPOC and learn a million things and become more whole in our humanity through our connection and learning, and yet, there is a gap: whiteness is still a thing and white embodiment needs mentorship from older more experienced antiracist white bodies to transform.
i need real-life models and examples and experiences of existing in multiracial contexts and doing antiracist work, both because this uses the past rather than denying or wasting it, and because this gives a sense of connection and community, which we, as humans who are pack animals, need when we are intentionally walking the line of impacting our existing white families and communities & risking degrees of rejection/ostracism for being/doing/living antiracism to the best of our abilities. this is a lineage & we need it at our backs in order to create the legacies we are committed to. so, i'm grateful for these treasures from a previous era of antiracism, where occasionally white antiracist activists did speak from their perspectives and memories, and i am also grieving that there are so few of these treasures, and none that quite speak to my own lineage (west coast origins, immigrant to so-called canada, no experience in mass civil rights or anti-klan organizing due to time & place & other context.)
thank you, mab segrest, for your mentorship.
we seem to have found ourselves in an era where it's kind of taboo for white people to write/speak about race in social justice/anti-oppressive circles, which i understand because 90% of the time white people do a fuckered job of it, but which i'm also finding leaves me and many white folks who are trying to figure out antiracism in a strange place. we can listen to BIPOC and learn a million things and become more whole in our humanity through our connection and learning, and yet, there is a gap: whiteness is still a thing and white embodiment needs mentorship from older more experienced antiracist white bodies to transform.
i need real-life models and examples and experiences of existing in multiracial contexts and doing antiracist work, both because this uses the past rather than denying or wasting it, and because this gives a sense of connection and community, which we, as humans who are pack animals, need when we are intentionally walking the line of impacting our existing white families and communities & risking degrees of rejection/ostracism for being/doing/living antiracism to the best of our abilities. this is a lineage & we need it at our backs in order to create the legacies we are committed to. so, i'm grateful for these treasures from a previous era of antiracism, where occasionally white antiracist activists did speak from their perspectives and memories, and i am also grieving that there are so few of these treasures, and none that quite speak to my own lineage (west coast origins, immigrant to so-called canada, no experience in mass civil rights or anti-klan organizing due to time & place & other context.)
thank you, mab segrest, for your mentorship.
March 28, 2022
This book was the perfect narrative to pick up when taking a class through White Awake that looks at the development of the concept of whiteness and what people who consider themselves lose when we melt into that behemoth of a concept/voting bloc/reinforcing principle of exclusionary capitalism. As a fellow Southerner with deep historical roots in this country, her journey of looking at her own evolution through her Alabama raising into an anti-racist and queer women’s rights activist spoke to me and showed an honest, messy, real way forward that is so relevant today. Pema Chodron says you already have everything you need. Mab Segrest shows how not to leave any of those parts and pieces that comprise us out of the story. This is beautiful both/anding.
I would be lying if I didn’t admit that it was exciting to realize the personal connections I have with Segrest through her Durham ties, but even without that extra charge, I’m grateful for the work she has done and the way she has shown.
I would be lying if I didn’t admit that it was exciting to realize the personal connections I have with Segrest through her Durham ties, but even without that extra charge, I’m grateful for the work she has done and the way she has shown.
November 1, 2019
A decade of combating racial violence perpetrated by white supremacist groups (such as the Klan) in North Carolina is the background for Memoir of a Race Traitor. In this enlightening, compelling, and at times disturbing memoir, Mab Segrest takes the reader to the head of a struggle that many of us have tended to dismiss as happening “over there, to someone else.” In these times of a resurgent, fascist right-wing, we cannot afford to be so indifferent.
THE STORY OF AN ACTIVIST
Originally published in 1994, Memoir of a Race Traitor: Fighting Racism in the American South is the twenty-fifth anniversary edition published in 2019. It is Mab Segrest’s account of her work in the 1980s as director of NCARRV (North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence). It is also her story of trying to understand the racism of her white middle-class family, even as she rebelled against it and “came out” as a lesbian.
Ms. Segrest’s work at this time was primarily countering the violence of the KKK and other white supremacist groups. In the process, she came into advocating for feminist and gay rights, always with an awareness of how they relate to racial violence. She traces her activist development from events in Statesville, NC, where she describes the work of her early mentor, Rev. Wilson Lee, through the many acts of racial violence in Robeson County, to the homophobic bookstore murders in Shelby. Her book concludes with “lessons learned” from her years in doing this work. Most notably, she includes sections on the history of imperialist capitalism showing how today’s racial violence evolved from it.
THREE THEMES
Ms. Segrest is an able writer and thinker. She is introspective as she relates her, often dangerous, work during this time period. Not holding back on the naked hatred and violence she witnessed, she describes the emotional cost of it all, even as she struggled with coming out as gay. Actually, I see three major themes in this book and they all support one another.
First is the story of the violent events she was involved in fighting. The first notable one is the shooting in Greensboro, NC at a Communist Worker’s Party rally, leaving five of the CWP leadership dead. A series of racially motivated murders in Robeson County brought Ms. Segrest some notoriety nationally, and the enmity of a Klan leader. And then she was heavily involved in working with the victims of the bookstore shooting of suspected (by the white supremacists) homosexuals in Shelby, NC. Also, working in NCARRV, she followed the trial and acquittal of the two men accused of the crime.
In relating these events, Ms. Segrest shows the reader the day-to-day work of NCARRV activists “on the ground.” The hatred and violence they endure, and also the support they get from victims gives the reader a view what this kind of work is like. When a reporter asks Ms. Segrest why she’s doing all this, she basically replies: “Why isn’t everybody?”
The second theme is the personal side of Ms. Segrest’s memoir. She tells us about her family that she became at odds with over her work, and their protracted, more-or-less reconciliations. She explores the racist history of her family, most poignantly by describing an old photo of her great-grandfather’s family and the dysfunction revealed by it. Then she gets really frank about her gay “Coming Out” in a chapter of the same name. With that background, she provides in Chapter Five a moving account of the passing-by-AIDS of her gay friend, Carl.
Thirdly is the introspection parts of the book. In these, Ms. Segrest considers the impact and meaning of the violent events she’s fought in and cried over. How does one deal with this kind of violence and where does it come from, anyway? She seeks personal answers in the study of karate, and broader answers in the study of history.
As enlightening and moving as is Ms. Segrest’s personal story, her history section in Part Two is well worth this book’s cost. Here, she describes the history of imperialist capitalism since the sixteenth century and how racial violence evolved from it, principally as a tool to control the workers. Her insights in this section are, in my opinion, right on the money.
A WORK OF INSPIRATION
I think this memoir is a work of inspiration. Ms. Segrest does quite well at interleaving historical events with personal growth and having them support one another. Learning from life events is, after all, how we develop as people. It just happens that her life events included some that made the headlines of the day.
I really don’t find much to criticize about the book. It does go long. Some 304 pages in a five-and-a-half by eight-and-a-half inch book, in a roughly eleven font makes for a lot of words, but it’s well-written so I can’t count that as a ding. Hang with it. You will learn a lot.
IN CONCLUSION
Memoir of a Race Traitor is a close look at activist work against white supremacist violence in the 1980s. It is a story told from the viewpoint of an intelligent, able writer who is herself a minority-member recipient of hatred and discrimination. For middle-class whites who have grown up with the disparaging of such people and activism, Mab’s story is a source of insight into the thinking and views of those we’ve been told not to consider. Her accounts of hatred by groups leading to unrestrained violence are a shocking view of a side of life so many of us tend to ignore.
My recommendation is that you do consider Mab’s story and the history she relates. Early in her book, she asks the question concerning the writing of her book:
Could I turn bits and pieces of a large, bloody, violent puzzle into a coherent story that would move both ordinary and powerful people?
At least for ordinary people, I think she has.
THE STORY OF AN ACTIVIST
Originally published in 1994, Memoir of a Race Traitor: Fighting Racism in the American South is the twenty-fifth anniversary edition published in 2019. It is Mab Segrest’s account of her work in the 1980s as director of NCARRV (North Carolinians Against Racist and Religious Violence). It is also her story of trying to understand the racism of her white middle-class family, even as she rebelled against it and “came out” as a lesbian.
Ms. Segrest’s work at this time was primarily countering the violence of the KKK and other white supremacist groups. In the process, she came into advocating for feminist and gay rights, always with an awareness of how they relate to racial violence. She traces her activist development from events in Statesville, NC, where she describes the work of her early mentor, Rev. Wilson Lee, through the many acts of racial violence in Robeson County, to the homophobic bookstore murders in Shelby. Her book concludes with “lessons learned” from her years in doing this work. Most notably, she includes sections on the history of imperialist capitalism showing how today’s racial violence evolved from it.
THREE THEMES
Ms. Segrest is an able writer and thinker. She is introspective as she relates her, often dangerous, work during this time period. Not holding back on the naked hatred and violence she witnessed, she describes the emotional cost of it all, even as she struggled with coming out as gay. Actually, I see three major themes in this book and they all support one another.
First is the story of the violent events she was involved in fighting. The first notable one is the shooting in Greensboro, NC at a Communist Worker’s Party rally, leaving five of the CWP leadership dead. A series of racially motivated murders in Robeson County brought Ms. Segrest some notoriety nationally, and the enmity of a Klan leader. And then she was heavily involved in working with the victims of the bookstore shooting of suspected (by the white supremacists) homosexuals in Shelby, NC. Also, working in NCARRV, she followed the trial and acquittal of the two men accused of the crime.
In relating these events, Ms. Segrest shows the reader the day-to-day work of NCARRV activists “on the ground.” The hatred and violence they endure, and also the support they get from victims gives the reader a view what this kind of work is like. When a reporter asks Ms. Segrest why she’s doing all this, she basically replies: “Why isn’t everybody?”
The second theme is the personal side of Ms. Segrest’s memoir. She tells us about her family that she became at odds with over her work, and their protracted, more-or-less reconciliations. She explores the racist history of her family, most poignantly by describing an old photo of her great-grandfather’s family and the dysfunction revealed by it. Then she gets really frank about her gay “Coming Out” in a chapter of the same name. With that background, she provides in Chapter Five a moving account of the passing-by-AIDS of her gay friend, Carl.
Thirdly is the introspection parts of the book. In these, Ms. Segrest considers the impact and meaning of the violent events she’s fought in and cried over. How does one deal with this kind of violence and where does it come from, anyway? She seeks personal answers in the study of karate, and broader answers in the study of history.
As enlightening and moving as is Ms. Segrest’s personal story, her history section in Part Two is well worth this book’s cost. Here, she describes the history of imperialist capitalism since the sixteenth century and how racial violence evolved from it, principally as a tool to control the workers. Her insights in this section are, in my opinion, right on the money.
A WORK OF INSPIRATION
I think this memoir is a work of inspiration. Ms. Segrest does quite well at interleaving historical events with personal growth and having them support one another. Learning from life events is, after all, how we develop as people. It just happens that her life events included some that made the headlines of the day.
I really don’t find much to criticize about the book. It does go long. Some 304 pages in a five-and-a-half by eight-and-a-half inch book, in a roughly eleven font makes for a lot of words, but it’s well-written so I can’t count that as a ding. Hang with it. You will learn a lot.
IN CONCLUSION
Memoir of a Race Traitor is a close look at activist work against white supremacist violence in the 1980s. It is a story told from the viewpoint of an intelligent, able writer who is herself a minority-member recipient of hatred and discrimination. For middle-class whites who have grown up with the disparaging of such people and activism, Mab’s story is a source of insight into the thinking and views of those we’ve been told not to consider. Her accounts of hatred by groups leading to unrestrained violence are a shocking view of a side of life so many of us tend to ignore.
My recommendation is that you do consider Mab’s story and the history she relates. Early in her book, she asks the question concerning the writing of her book:
Could I turn bits and pieces of a large, bloody, violent puzzle into a coherent story that would move both ordinary and powerful people?
At least for ordinary people, I think she has.
May 21, 2008
Mab Segrest writes a non-linear autobiography on her anti-Klan work fighting against racism and homophobia. Her accounts are honest and complex. Some of the book was vague and/or missing information - I have heard from others who heard Segrest speak that she did so to protect herself from those perhaps still alive who might retaliate.
October 16, 2019
Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.
Memoir of a Race Traitor is a lyrically written brutally honest book which is part memoir, part playbook strategy for her fight against racism and homophobia written by Mab Segrest. Originally published in 1994, this reformat and re-release, out 24th Sept 2019 by The New Press, is 319 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats (other editions available in other formats).
This was a difficult book for me to read. The prose itself in most of the book is fairly academic and dry, but additionally, I found myself reading and reflecting on the often truly horrific things the author was describing (both historical and recent) and feeling a gut-churning sense of shame and anger and impotent rage. I am afraid and angry, especially in the context of the current political climate, and it feels futile. She wrote the original text 25 years ago, 1994, and here we are again (and not for the first time, either).
Although I found it very difficult to read, I do feel that this is an important book. It's fascinating to see how she draws forth and exposes the intersections of both racism and homophobic politics and the solidifying of power and resources by those who are in control and unwilling to level the playing field or allow anyone who isn't them (largely white male and conservative) to have a voice.
This would be a superlative choice for a reading list for gender studies, American history, and many other related subjects. It is violent and some parts are horrific. My personal experience with the book is anger and sadness that the hundreds of years of violence and hatred represent in lost and wasted effort. Why the hell can't people get along?
Three and a half stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes
Memoir of a Race Traitor is a lyrically written brutally honest book which is part memoir, part playbook strategy for her fight against racism and homophobia written by Mab Segrest. Originally published in 1994, this reformat and re-release, out 24th Sept 2019 by The New Press, is 319 pages and available in paperback and ebook formats (other editions available in other formats).
This was a difficult book for me to read. The prose itself in most of the book is fairly academic and dry, but additionally, I found myself reading and reflecting on the often truly horrific things the author was describing (both historical and recent) and feeling a gut-churning sense of shame and anger and impotent rage. I am afraid and angry, especially in the context of the current political climate, and it feels futile. She wrote the original text 25 years ago, 1994, and here we are again (and not for the first time, either).
Although I found it very difficult to read, I do feel that this is an important book. It's fascinating to see how she draws forth and exposes the intersections of both racism and homophobic politics and the solidifying of power and resources by those who are in control and unwilling to level the playing field or allow anyone who isn't them (largely white male and conservative) to have a voice.
This would be a superlative choice for a reading list for gender studies, American history, and many other related subjects. It is violent and some parts are horrific. My personal experience with the book is anger and sadness that the hundreds of years of violence and hatred represent in lost and wasted effort. Why the hell can't people get along?
Three and a half stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes
October 16, 2019
Thanks to The New Press for this free copy.
This was a good book, and although the criticisms of it do hold water in terms of how the narrating can jump around a little, ultimately, I feel that specific style is actually really helpful. I felt it gave me insight into how difficult it is to catalog the raw emotions and both the successes and disappointments, the squabbles and the unity, the hope amid the chaos on the ground. Also, what makes or breaks a memoir for me is self-reflection and Mab has that in spades. She acknowledges, for example that, due to the portrayal of sensitive events, the organizing chapters and the personal chapters (which alternate more or less throughout the book) may have a vast difference in tone.
That's not to say that there weren't occasions where I had to look up names when they were reintroduced, but that had a negligible impact on the reading for me. It did take me a while to get through, though I'm not sure whether that's because it is chock-full of dates and meticulously researched events or because I've had less time on my hands recently. Either way, if it is dense, it is still definitely worth reading.
If you've read Howard Zinn or Eduardo Galeano, the coda may seem a bit basic, as its intention is to be an introduction or reintroduction which places the memoir part in a wider American history of race. Still, even though at least the first part of said coda was familiar ground for me, it was a welcome reminder.
"A Bridge, Not A Wedge" and the new Introduction and Afterword seamlessly bring the story into the present, though the lessons of the main body hold up sadly all too well today, so it's worth a read whether you read the first edition or are just reading it for the first time.
Although this book resonated with me a fair deal due in part to my race, how I grew up, and the messy way in which I (and we all, I suppose) process identity and, at some times, family, I'd recommend this book to anyone and everyone who wishes to get involved in antiracist organizing, along with other books on the subject.
This was a good book, and although the criticisms of it do hold water in terms of how the narrating can jump around a little, ultimately, I feel that specific style is actually really helpful. I felt it gave me insight into how difficult it is to catalog the raw emotions and both the successes and disappointments, the squabbles and the unity, the hope amid the chaos on the ground. Also, what makes or breaks a memoir for me is self-reflection and Mab has that in spades. She acknowledges, for example that, due to the portrayal of sensitive events, the organizing chapters and the personal chapters (which alternate more or less throughout the book) may have a vast difference in tone.
That's not to say that there weren't occasions where I had to look up names when they were reintroduced, but that had a negligible impact on the reading for me. It did take me a while to get through, though I'm not sure whether that's because it is chock-full of dates and meticulously researched events or because I've had less time on my hands recently. Either way, if it is dense, it is still definitely worth reading.
If you've read Howard Zinn or Eduardo Galeano, the coda may seem a bit basic, as its intention is to be an introduction or reintroduction which places the memoir part in a wider American history of race. Still, even though at least the first part of said coda was familiar ground for me, it was a welcome reminder.
"A Bridge, Not A Wedge" and the new Introduction and Afterword seamlessly bring the story into the present, though the lessons of the main body hold up sadly all too well today, so it's worth a read whether you read the first edition or are just reading it for the first time.
Although this book resonated with me a fair deal due in part to my race, how I grew up, and the messy way in which I (and we all, I suppose) process identity and, at some times, family, I'd recommend this book to anyone and everyone who wishes to get involved in antiracist organizing, along with other books on the subject.
April 25, 2021
Invigorating.
"It is my belief that racism shapes all political movements in the United States, for better and for worse, but because white people so seldom talk about how we are affected by racism, we don't understand how to counter it."
"What I mean is a less lonely society, where we think collectively about resources for the common good, rather than struggling individually against each other for material and psychic health."
"If we could decide who could not come into our church, then it was just a building that belonged to us, not God."
"Leah affirmed my instincts to build not just coalitions, but movements grounded in relationships. .. The result was friendships that come among people who catalyze changes in each other. Our work carried a lot of risk, but the risk gave us occasions to develop substantial trust."
"Individuals project onto others the characteristics they cannot accept in themselves, then control, punish or eradicate the objects of those projections. Our identities, structured as they are on what we hate, resist or fear, are disturbingly unstable."
"There is a lot to be done, but how we go about it is also important. Because all we have ever had is each other."
"It is the failure to feel the communal bonds between humans, I think, and the punishment that undoubtedly came to those Europeans who did, that allowed the "community of the lie" to grow so genocidally in the soil of the "New World."
"White democracy, it seems, gets built on the backs of people of color, a fact that gives white people a very different subjective experience of U.S. democracy than many people of color."
"It is my belief that racism shapes all political movements in the United States, for better and for worse, but because white people so seldom talk about how we are affected by racism, we don't understand how to counter it."
"What I mean is a less lonely society, where we think collectively about resources for the common good, rather than struggling individually against each other for material and psychic health."
"If we could decide who could not come into our church, then it was just a building that belonged to us, not God."
"Leah affirmed my instincts to build not just coalitions, but movements grounded in relationships. .. The result was friendships that come among people who catalyze changes in each other. Our work carried a lot of risk, but the risk gave us occasions to develop substantial trust."
"Individuals project onto others the characteristics they cannot accept in themselves, then control, punish or eradicate the objects of those projections. Our identities, structured as they are on what we hate, resist or fear, are disturbingly unstable."
"There is a lot to be done, but how we go about it is also important. Because all we have ever had is each other."
"It is the failure to feel the communal bonds between humans, I think, and the punishment that undoubtedly came to those Europeans who did, that allowed the "community of the lie" to grow so genocidally in the soil of the "New World."
"White democracy, it seems, gets built on the backs of people of color, a fact that gives white people a very different subjective experience of U.S. democracy than many people of color."
September 23, 2020
This book traces Segrest's experience as a white lesbian from Alabama, organizing against the Klan in the 1970s and 80s in North Carolina during a very violent period of White Supremacist activity there. The book was helpful in placing struggles against White Supremacy squarely in the lap of white people, and in drawing connections between the struggles of working class people, women, and LGBTQ people and the struggles of Black and indigenous people. Sometimes the narrative drags, but at times it reads almost like a crime novel. In the second section, Segrest offers a history of race in America through the lens of her own family's journey on this continent, examining their committing of and/or complicity in racist violence and racist organizing. It challenged me to think about my own family tree, which we can trace back so long on this continent, and wonder: Who did we displace? Who might my ancestors have hurt to get what they had? What role did they play in creating the structures of their communities - structures which more often than not have racism bake din at the foundation? And finally, she offers a critique of how capitalism underscores all of these related struggles that was new to me in its detail and specificity. While I'd certainly not suggest this be the *only* historical account of American racism one reads, I think it is well worth putting on the list, alongside many other titles written by Black, Indigenous and People of Color.
August 26, 2023
Mab Segrest had already been active as a lesbian feminist who worked on the collective that produced Feminary, a southern lesbian literary journal. She had published a book, My Mama's Dead Squirrel. But prompted by racist violence in the '80s, she went on to become involved in organizing against the Klan and other white nationalist groups. She knew about racism. She grew up in Alabama and her father had organized the movement for private segregation academy schools in his area when the courts required integration of public schools. A more distant male relative had killed a Black man but was acquitted.
She worked in Black-led organizations and faced danger. There was more racist violence in the '80s than I remembered reading about. She tried to make sure that murderers were brought to justice, but even though there were trials, there weren't always convictions. The killers and those who made threats generally got off easily.
In the midst of this difficult life, Mab Segrest was involved in a committed lesbian relationship and began jointly raising a baby. Finally, the extreme stress took its toll and she needed to take a break.
This well-written and moving account of fighting white nationalists is very worth reading, especially now, when we are becoming conscious that those forces are still very much with us.
She worked in Black-led organizations and faced danger. There was more racist violence in the '80s than I remembered reading about. She tried to make sure that murderers were brought to justice, but even though there were trials, there weren't always convictions. The killers and those who made threats generally got off easily.
In the midst of this difficult life, Mab Segrest was involved in a committed lesbian relationship and began jointly raising a baby. Finally, the extreme stress took its toll and she needed to take a break.
This well-written and moving account of fighting white nationalists is very worth reading, especially now, when we are becoming conscious that those forces are still very much with us.
July 6, 2025
"Welcome to Durham. Those of you making your first trip South may already be disoriented by our peculiar blend of hospitality and repression, which comes from having spent 246 of the last 374 years as a slave culture."
Mab Segrest shares her experience fighting white supremacy from her perspective as a white, lesbian cis-woman and North Carolina local in the 1980s and '90s. She paints portraits of black leaders who successfully advocate against racist and religious violence in NC where both Republicans and Democrats covered up or gave their silent consent to white supremacy groups. She walks through years of failure to progress while challenging the feminist and queer communities to be accountable for their lack of anti-racism. She delves into the origin of racism by demonstrating how capitalism cannot exist without the racist foundation which it was built up on.
As a queer North Carolina local who has worked in anti-racism spaces, I deeply enjoyed getting to know the history of those who came before me in my backyard.
"If the South is the cradle of the Confederacy and of many subsequent right-wing movements, it is also the mother of all resistance."
Mab Segrest shares her experience fighting white supremacy from her perspective as a white, lesbian cis-woman and North Carolina local in the 1980s and '90s. She paints portraits of black leaders who successfully advocate against racist and religious violence in NC where both Republicans and Democrats covered up or gave their silent consent to white supremacy groups. She walks through years of failure to progress while challenging the feminist and queer communities to be accountable for their lack of anti-racism. She delves into the origin of racism by demonstrating how capitalism cannot exist without the racist foundation which it was built up on.
As a queer North Carolina local who has worked in anti-racism spaces, I deeply enjoyed getting to know the history of those who came before me in my backyard.
"If the South is the cradle of the Confederacy and of many subsequent right-wing movements, it is also the mother of all resistance."
February 7, 2021
I remember this book from 1994, and I was glad to see the updated version, especially at Barnes & Noble alongside other books like White Fragility and How to Be an Anti-Racist in Black Lives Matter book displays.
The book was less personal than I'd hoped, but it was full of stories about Segrest's organizing with gay & lesbian groups and anti-racist groups (which today would be called "intersectional," as she says). One chapter, interweaving her ancestral history with America's history of commercial, industrial and financial capitalism, was dry in theoretical terms but jumped to life when her family entered the narrative. By the end of the book, where Segrest outlines her vision of socialism in a speech, I was cheering along, wishing those who fear "radical leftists and socialists" could witness this kind of joy and energy.
I skimmed a good deal of the textbook-like prose, and wished the book was more accessible to a larger audience, but I did applaud this evidence of gay and lesbian antiracist activism.
The book was less personal than I'd hoped, but it was full of stories about Segrest's organizing with gay & lesbian groups and anti-racist groups (which today would be called "intersectional," as she says). One chapter, interweaving her ancestral history with America's history of commercial, industrial and financial capitalism, was dry in theoretical terms but jumped to life when her family entered the narrative. By the end of the book, where Segrest outlines her vision of socialism in a speech, I was cheering along, wishing those who fear "radical leftists and socialists" could witness this kind of joy and energy.
I skimmed a good deal of the textbook-like prose, and wished the book was more accessible to a larger audience, but I did applaud this evidence of gay and lesbian antiracist activism.
July 15, 2020
The rereleased edition of this book (2019) includes three parts: Mab Segrest’s memoir, a series of essays titled “On Being White and Other Lies,” and the transcript of a keynote speech delivered in 1993 at a National Gay and Lesbian Task Force conference in Durham.
I appreciated the second two parts of this book about as much as the memoir itself, and found the ideas and writing just as, if not more, compelling. Mab’s story and life, activist and personal, were interesting to me as a white woman living in North Carolina. While I appreciated the depth of detail about her organizing days in the 80s against white supremacist groups in NC, I was also at times bogged down by the details. I’m glad to know the stories and events that she relayed here, but I think I expected the personal reflection to outweigh the fact and detail, which it did not. Despite that, I have a lot of respect for Mab Segrest, and am glad I picked up this book!
I appreciated the second two parts of this book about as much as the memoir itself, and found the ideas and writing just as, if not more, compelling. Mab’s story and life, activist and personal, were interesting to me as a white woman living in North Carolina. While I appreciated the depth of detail about her organizing days in the 80s against white supremacist groups in NC, I was also at times bogged down by the details. I’m glad to know the stories and events that she relayed here, but I think I expected the personal reflection to outweigh the fact and detail, which it did not. Despite that, I have a lot of respect for Mab Segrest, and am glad I picked up this book!
March 11, 2020
This book is written like a story that might be told on a porch to a friend whose dropped by to catch up. It's intimate, winding & harrowing, leafing out into emotional and intellectual tangents as Segrest recounts her years as an activist against white supremacist violence. She comes from a generation of queer people I am so different from, and it was interesting to compare. There are a few things that ring really loud and true in the book: It is the responsibility of anti racist white folks to put themselves between white supremacists and marginalized people. Activists absolutely must take care of themselves and each other.
After the memoir part of the book is a more academic piece that is, even at its age, worth the price of the book. Among other things, it makes the connection between white supremacy and capitalism.
After the memoir part of the book is a more academic piece that is, even at its age, worth the price of the book. Among other things, it makes the connection between white supremacy and capitalism.
May 28, 2023
Well-written, well researched: I learned a lot from reading this re-issued memoir about the history of race (and homophobia) in the U.S. and the struggles of the 60's, 70's and 80's that I was not fully aware of--told from the viewpoint of Mab Segrest who grew up in the South within a family she loved, but who then went on to work for civil rights and human rights.
The biggest lesson was that "White" was a social construct basically invented in the late 1600's to keep indentured servants and other laborers from rebelling along with slaves. The idea was that if a person was designated "White" and given whatever rights others from Europe received he would separate himself from black and brown workers.
Also, I learned that the white women leading the fight for women to obtain the vote in the U.S. were often racist and excluded Black women so they would be successful in their fight.
The biggest lesson was that "White" was a social construct basically invented in the late 1600's to keep indentured servants and other laborers from rebelling along with slaves. The idea was that if a person was designated "White" and given whatever rights others from Europe received he would separate himself from black and brown workers.
Also, I learned that the white women leading the fight for women to obtain the vote in the U.S. were often racist and excluded Black women so they would be successful in their fight.
November 25, 2020
This is such a comprehensive look at all the ills in America and presented in a way that should elicit empathy in anyone with half a heart. It’s now almost trendy to be anti-racist, but the author has been in the movement since a young women 50-60 years ago. She writes about southern racism, because that is her heritage, but is also adamant in including her work to fight homophobia and anti-Semitism. These three are what white supremacists aim to act on, and the author shows how that has been a part of the US since white people identified as white. There is so much in the book that one little paragraph could never do it justice. The book came out twenty-five years ago and this new edition includes a new introduction and a very timely new conclusion.
February 20, 2020
A book I somehow missed upon its initial publication in 1994, Memoir of a Race Traitor is an incredibly rich and nuanced read, especially in this new 25th anniversary edition. In a land only further deteriorated by the legacy of unrepentant racism among the most spiteful of the MAGA haters, Segrest's account of antiracist activism in the American South is a reminder to us of the roles we play in our sins of omission (& commission) when we dismiss the region as being beyond our ability to embrace as part of the greater nation.
We are vexed by our inability to learn the lessons of history - perhaps our descendants will finally let go of the prejudices that came before them....
We are vexed by our inability to learn the lessons of history - perhaps our descendants will finally let go of the prejudices that came before them....
April 29, 2021
Trigger warning: racism, lynching, violence, white supremacy, homophobia, family rejection,
I struggled with getting into this book. Honestly it kind of felt a little disorganized as we went from one thing to another and then it just ends. I struggled to keep track of all of the people, especially towards the end, when Segrest repeated all the names at once.
The second part was looking at US History through the lens of Segrest’s family, but the history is very elementary and there aren’t enough ties to Segrest’s family to make it intriguing.
I struggled with getting into this book. Honestly it kind of felt a little disorganized as we went from one thing to another and then it just ends. I struggled to keep track of all of the people, especially towards the end, when Segrest repeated all the names at once.
The second part was looking at US History through the lens of Segrest’s family, but the history is very elementary and there aren’t enough ties to Segrest’s family to make it intriguing.
February 1, 2022
This is a powerful book that appeared on many lists on 2020 for allies. I can see why. The new intro and epilogue add a modern history + current events to the book that is part memoir, part history - of so many things (Southern families and politics, being Black in the South, being LGBT in the South) and how they all overlapped. An important read, especially for white folks. Definitely recommend.
July 9, 2022
Absolutely excellent. A must read for white feminists/queer/leftists who want to see a real model of building solidarity across lines of race to free every human being.
Loses one star for an odd assertion that one must reconcile with their abusive/racist white families. Absolutely not. Organize our communities in general? Yes. But there is no moral or political mandate that we have to have any direct relationships with our personal families of origin.
Loses one star for an odd assertion that one must reconcile with their abusive/racist white families. Absolutely not. Organize our communities in general? Yes. But there is no moral or political mandate that we have to have any direct relationships with our personal families of origin.
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